A personal story:
Some 14-15 years ago I watched a race in a big cafe bar on Croatian coast. There were a lot of people in cafe, among them a group of Italian tourists, a dozen of older men and women. They also watched the race but it seemed they didn't pay much attention to it (another year when Ferraris were down the grid:rolleyes: ). Suddenly, Andrea de Cesaris appeared on the screen, as he was about to be lapped by leader - Mansell, I think. All the Italians stood up, started to bouncing, wawing and shouting "Andrea, avanti Andrea", wanting him to not give it up easy. They all were frantic, even if he was lapped at the moment!
That day I fell in love with Tifosi, and I'm still admiring Italian approach, so many years later. I mean, I was in Italy day after their footbal team was eliminated from last World Cup, and in a whole day I didn't see a single smile! I simply adore that emotional approach, and I'll always remember Andrea de Cesaris as the one who - for me - started it all.

I too am a big fan of De Cesaris as he was the reason why i started to follow Formula One, i even have an autograph of his from Detroit in 1986. There isn't much information out there that i've been able to find on him which is sad but if you do have or find any other info about him i would love to know, my email address is in my profile or just post it here. I would love to know what the man is doing nowadays.

I started cheering for him in '83. I was 13 years old. I saw my first F1 race that year, and they kept refering to some guy as 'PK.' I was like, "why do they use his initals?" Of course, it was Piquet they were talking about.

Speaking of Piquet, remember in 1989, de Cesaris, in fourth place at the time, tried to lap Piquet at the Lowes hairpin. The two cars became intangled and de Cesaris undid his belts and went for Piquets head. Most excellent.

de Cesaris was a great passer, and was fearless through Eau Rouge. I remember all the rumors in the mid-80's that Ferrari was going to develop a turbo 4 cylinder car, a la BMW, and de Cesaris was going to be the driver...

Matt,I know that you are true fan of Andrea and I'm happy to
talk with you.I'm fan of Andrea since he was in F2 when he was
very "wild".I think that his nickname "De Crasheris" was not corect
although in his first full season he had 24 crashes.The reason for
that was old McLaren 29 which was very unsafety and because of
that Prost left the tem.Andrea's best seasons were '82 and '83
when he drove for Alfa.In these two seasons he drove with heart
and didn't win because of bad luck (Long Beach '82,Monaco '82
and Spa '83).When he was in Dallara he had some good races
(Monaco '89 and Canada '89) and some stupid accidents (Phoenix
'89).In Jordan and Tyrell he was very mature,but I think he was
better when he was younger.

I distinctly remember Andrea's first race on German soil, Hockenheim F2 in 1980. He tried to take the lead from local hero Manfred Winkelhock going into lap 3 (?) at the Nordkurve, but Manfred was having none of it and closed the door. It was a heavy crash! I remember a picture of the two cars hitting the guardrail, and Andrea's head was bent badly backwards (backslash?).

Unfortunately, this also led to Derek Warwick losing control on some of the sand that was thrown onto the track (one lap later, iirc), and his Toleman sheared a wheel which was then thrown right onto Markus Höttinger's head. The young Austrian never stood a chance and, sadly, died the same day! He was a great talent, and a nice person!

It has some nice piccies. De Cesaris was a most entertaining driver, and always made for great viewing. I was glad that he at last got the respect that his later performance deserved before he retired which was nice to see.

Also a nice guy, I met him at Silverstone in 1989 and he was always happy to go out of his way and sign autographs and chat.

That was from the FOCA 1985 video review of Silverstone when Prost came up to lap Andrea.

"I was not quite sure with de Cesaris, sometimes can be a very dangerous driver'

Totally unfounded remark..

Was it not Brands Hatch though?

There was another comment in the 1988 or 1991 FOCA tape when I think Tony Jardine said: "Andrea de Cesaris must have surprised himself with the speed he managed to have this Grand Prix's accident." When he crashed at the start of the Brasilian GP.

The comment was made when Prost commentated the race at Silverstone. Nigel Mansell did the commentating at Brands Hatch, so it has to be Silverstone (or Jacarepagua where Prost also did the commentating if I'm not mistaken).

Originally posted by Rediscoveryx The comment was made when Prost commentated the race at Silverstone. Nigel Mansell did the commentating at Brands Hatch, so it has to be Silverstone (or Jacarepagua where Prost also did the commentating if I'm not mistaken).

Originally posted by Rediscoveryx The comment was made when Prost commentated the race at Silverstone. Nigel Mansell did the commentating at Brands Hatch, so it has to be Silverstone (or Jacarepagua where Prost also did the commentating if I'm not mistaken).

That name brings back fond memories to me...
for I was present when Andrea made his F1 debut back in 1980 at the Canadian GP at the wheel of a third Alfa-Romeo.
If my memory serves me well, he qualified 8th on the grid !!

Hi
does anyone remember the Andrea de Cesaris fan club? It was run by a guy called Stephen Wade who lived down in Redruth in Cornwall near where I come from. He was so into the club and was always writing to Autospurt complaining, especially about Nigel Roebucks coverage of Andrea. I became a member of ADeC, I beleive I still have a signed photo somewhere... Wish he had won Spa 83, or Spa 91. Wisely he gave up after a brief go in an Opel Touring car in Italy. Wonder what he does now?
Forza Andrea!

Originally posted by Rediscoveryx Well, it was pretty funny when Nigel was on the podium after winning the South African GP, kissing one of the sponsorgirls, and Nigel said; "Here's a piece of footage that got me into some trouble..."

Originally posted by ghinzani Hidoes anyone remember the Andrea de Cesaris fan club? It was run by a guy called Stephen Wade who lived down in Redruth in Cornwall near where I come from. He was so into the club and was always writing to Autospurt complaining, especially about Nigel Roebucks coverage of Andrea. I became a member of ADeC, I beleive I still have a signed photo somewhere... Wish he had won Spa 83, or Spa 91. Wisely he gave up after a brief go in an Opel Touring car in Italy. Wonder what he does now? Forza Andrea!

Indeed I remember the Andrea de Cesaris fan club - I too was also a member. It had the proud boast of being the 'Largest driver fan club' in the world - not quite sure if that was true?;)

Steve Wade was WELL into Andrea de Cesaris. His monthly magazine was pure entertainment, some great articles with qualifying and race reports. Piccies of Andrea at home, with his Missus etc etc.

Regarding Nigel Roebuck and Steve, I always remember an article of Nigel's which MUST have been referring to Steve that read:

"And another shocking display of driving from Andrea de Cesaris......and I know - I'm going to get letters from that lone fan again"

Haha I was just thinking about that comment... I once had a rambling letter published in Autospurt argueing that the racing in castle combe formula ford racing was far better than f1 ever could be, but unfortunately they edited out the bit where I suggested if Roebuck ever went missing they should check Alian Prost with a proctascope....

I don't know. But it was the race when Jody Scheckter was 26th at practice - one of very few examples when a reigning champion failed to qualify. I remember Piquet failed to qualify in Detroit 1982 - were there any more failures like these two?

Originally posted by cheesy poofs That name brings back fond memories to me...for I was present when Andrea made his F1 debut back in 1980 at the Canadian GP at the wheel of a third Alfa-Romeo.If my memory serves me well, he qualified 8th on the grid !!

Anyone remembers who also made his GP debut in the same race ??

Mike Thackwell did and in doing so became the youngest ever starter in F1 history.

It was Thackwell's first GP start indeed, but he tried to qualify earlier, in Netherlands GP... That's why I wouldn't count Canada as his debut. De Cesaris, however, made his first GP appereance ever there.

I was member of Andrea de Cesaris World Wide Fan Club (original
name of the club) since 1992 and this club was ran by late Stephen Wade.
The club exist from 1991 to 1994 when de Cesaris quite F1.I don't
know weather it was the bigest fan club but I know there were
many members from many countries.I have all newsletters from
the club,so if anyone is interested I'm here.
Can anyone help me to find a photo of Andrea from 1980 with
Alfa Romeo?

I also have fond memories about Andrea. He even gave me an autogram during the GP at Zandvoort in 1984.I don't have a picture of him from 1980, but scanned one from 1983 at Monza during warm-up in his Alfa-Romeo:

Originally posted by andrea I was member of Andrea de Cesaris World Wide Fan Club (originalname of the club) since 1992 and this club was ran by late Stephen Wade.The club exist from 1991 to 1994 when de Cesaris quite F1.I don'tknow weather it was the bigest fan club but I know there weremany members from many countries.I have all newsletters fromthe club,so if anyone is interested I'm here.Can anyone help me to find a photo of Andrea from 1980 withAlfa Romeo?

Amen to that! wasnt Stephen a driving instructor? I know he lived down in Redruth. I also know he was the biggest fan of any Racing driver, let alone Andrea. What a fine guy - those b@stards at Autospurt should have at least had the decency to give him an obit, the amount of letters he wrote them. Shame on them, and thanks Stephen for corraling all those disparate Andrea fans!

I would like to share my favorite Andrea de Cesaris story. It was in Phoenix 1991, pre-qualifying. It was going to be a glorious day in the Arizona sunshine, but being the time of year it was (March) and the time of the day (eaaaaaaaaaaarly) the sun was still coming up when the engines fired for pre-qualifying. I managed to get a great spot right at the exit of pit road. All that seperated me from the cars was a two-deep tire wall. The pit exit at Phoenix was just an opening between the barriers, right onto the main straight. This was before such things as "pit speed limits"

There were 8 cars in pre-qualifying. Two Dallaras, with the new Judd v-10. God I loved how that engined sounded. It made a glorious howl when it went by. Two Lambos, a Coloni, and a Fondmetal,and of course, the two 7-up Jordans.

During prequalifying there was a man with a red flag that would randomly step out and stop cars before they entered the track. On each corner of the car two people would check the stickers on the tires, and if there was nothing wrong, raise there hands...the guy with the red flag would get out of the way, and the car/driver were on their way.

Halfway through the session I see a 7-up Jordan coming down the pit lane (Gachot was already on track, which was the only way I could tell who it was). So here he comes, at maybe 100 mph...tearing down the pit lane. I look..I see his visor is open a bit. Here he comes!

All of the sudden the guy with the red flag leaps out and Andrea STOPS. He is revving the car like crazy..blipping the throttle in a really nervous way...Up Down Up Down. Andrea had his right arm slightly out of the cockpit, I could see his eyes...looking right at the flag man. All of the sudden eight arms shoot up in the air, almost at once. The flag guy JUMPS out of the way and the revs go WAY up. Andrea dumped the clutch and I see the extended arm SLAM the visor shut. Wow. It reminded me of a guy heading into battle. Like he was jousting or something. All that was left was a cloud of smoke from the burnout.

The whole scene lasted maybe 5 seconds. The best part is I got the whole thing on film. My mom (who scored the great location!) was snapping away the whole time.

What shame he didn't pre-qualify. Right at the end of the session, when the track was at it's fastest, Andrea hooked a wrong gear going over a bump and damaged the motor. It was the only race he didn't qualify/pre-qualify for all year. At the next race in Brasil he was 10th on the grid.

Clickhappy,could you send me a picture of Andrea from
Phoenix 91?
Marglar,you are right.Andrea has nervous facial twitches and
some journalists in his begining (especially in 1981 when Andrea
had 24 crashes) thought that those twitches were the reason
for his behavior on the track.But Dr. Grajales-Robles who was
in charge in f1 in that period said :"In F1 every driver has a
great concentration,so Andrea's twitches are certanly not a
reason for his crashes."

Andrea was a racer, thats why I liked him. He did some amazing things in very average machinery. Any one who could withstand the abuse he got throughout his career and still joke around like that photo shows adds more reason to have liked him.